Expert: Paul Wagner - 9/18/2005

Question
--can you also givem e some more information please like what i could add towards this essay? etc. thanks

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Followup To
Question -
would it be possible if you go over this for me and make changes to it or add to it please???

You are driving in your car down a dark road late one night with your friends. All of a sudden, you see a large circular object with blue lights spinning right in front of your car. A bright spotlight shines down on your car for five seconds, and then disappears. As the object disappears before your eyes, you are left in amazement, wondering what just happened. Was that really a UFO? Is there really intelligent life out there in the universe? You turn around to ask your friends, only to find that one of them is missing.

Can the Earth be the only place in the Universe that harbors life? Most astronomers don't believe that this is true.

Introduction
Humans have long believed in the existence of other earths and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Over the past ___ years, various discoveries such as liquid water on the surface of Mars,          has made scientists to believe in extraterrestrials and is said to be false as ___ finds it all to be fiction. Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside our planet Earth. Its existence is currently hypothetical: there have been signs but there is as yet no evidence of extraterrestrial life that has been widely accepted by scientists.

The first “sighting� of an extrasolar planet occurred in 1995, when Swiss astronomer Michel Mayor astonished the scientific community with his discovery of a planet rotating around a star other than our Sun. Since this means our solar system is not unique, today’s scientists are more fascinated than ever by the possibility that other life forms exist in the universe.

For decades, debates have been common and fierce as to whether life existed on our closest neighboring planet, Mars. Liquid water, which is thought to be essential for the development of life, has been found on the moons of Jupiter and in the orbit of at least one distant star. There is strong evidence for the existence of surface water on Mars Many believed that other beings, Martians, did indeed exist, and were highly intelligent. Others claimed that there was no proof of this, and that life as we know it was, in fact, not possible due to the extreme conditions of the Martian environment. In 1976, NASA sent two landers, Viking I and Viking II, to the surface of Mars to determine if life did exist. However, when these landers executed their experiments, they showed rather convincingly that there were no organic compounds above the one part per billion level in the upper few centimeters of the surface. The landers also reported on the extreme environment of Mars, with temperatures falling to 120o Fahrenheit (48.9oC) below 0 at night. So, for a while the debate subsided surrounding the existence of life on Mars.

In 1996, a meteor was found in Allan Hills, Antarctica. Upon examination, it was discovered that this meteor, which is 4.5 billion years old, fell to the earth 13,000 years ago, and possibly contained evidence of life on Mars. Inside the meteor, along tiny cracks, scientists found evidence of what many believe to be ancient bacteria.
There are four main clues which bring some scientists to this conclusion. One is that the meteorite is definitely of Martian origin and that it contains carbonate globules. The second is the presence of polycyclic aromatic compounds, which are complex organic molecules. The third piece of evidence is the presence of iron and other compounds which appear to be like those made by bacteria. The last, and perhaps most intriguing , is the pictures of the possible fossilized bacteria themselves. When taken separately, these pieces of evidence probably wouldnt amount to much. But what is compelling is that all of these pieces of evidence occurr within millimeters of each other.
However, skeptics still remain. Some simply arent sure, while others are certain that this meteorite contains no evidence of former life.. However, all agree that convincing evidence would contain proof that the fossils had cell walls, that the cells had been divided, and that chemicals more closely related to living organisms as we know them be found. And so, the debates continue. While these debates over ALH84001 occur, the science community continues its pursuit in finding signs of life, extant or extinct, on Mars.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
In 1958, the United States Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. Its purpose was to coordinate and conduct all aeronautical and space activites for the United States of America, except those of the military. Among the many programs which NASA now runs, one is the search for life outside our home planet. NASA is currently examining our neighbor planet Mars for signs of life, as well as the moons of other planets in our solar system. It has also developed highly advanced technology for the search of life outside of our own solar system, such as special radars and infrared telescopes.
(SETI), an organized search for signs of intelligent life in other parts of the universe besides Earth. It began actively in 1960 when American astronomer Frank Drake searched for radio signals from two nearby stars. Once ridiculed, the search has grown in support, including the NASA-sponsored project, SETI. It is based on the assumption that any technologically advanced civilization would produce electromagnetic signals to communicate with other intelligent civilizations.

Other Intelligent Life Forms In The Universe

There are several theories about the immensity of the universe, whether it goes on forever or not, if it can. The universe is bigger than anything we could ever imagine. So, I do believe that there are societies out there that we would consider intelligent. Whether they are on the same level as us, or have any sort of same structure is really difficult to theorize, but given the size of the universe I believe it's all together possible to find life forms that might be at a level to share information with us and have some sort of desire for contact. I don't believe they would necessarily be Humanoid, or even in an intelligent form we could recognize by looking at them, but I think that they exist. I believe right now that any sort of contact would definitely be of their effort, as our current technology might have enough power to find some sort of signal in the vast expanses of space, but to act upon that signal in an effort to communicate would probably be beyond our capabilities. And certainly making a visit to one of these other civilizations is far, far beyond anything we could accomplish even in the next 100 years. But yes, I believe it may exist.




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Followup To
Question -
HI expert!
I'm doing a beginners course on astronomy and I was wondering if you know some information about life on other worlds in regards to space aliens and extra terrestials related to the astronomy topic and where i might be able to find information to write a short essay. If possible can you tell me about it?
thank you so much!
Answer -
Dear Sue:

There is NO hard scientific evidence of life on other planets.  But there certainly is all sorts of evidence that the conditions that led to life developing on Earth are not unique--in fact, there must be millions, maybe billions of planets like Earth.  

That said, all of those planets are a long ways away, and we don't really have any way of studying them.  I would spend your time researching the many new planets that have been discovered, and what that is telling us about the Universe and the possibility of life on other worlds.

Paul Wagner
Answer -
Dear Sue:

I won't finish this for you...but I think it is pretty good.  One thing that you should make very clear is the difference between PROOF and BELIEF.  It's OK to say that you believe anything that you want...but when it comes to scientific proof, you have to make sure that you really have added up all of the facts.

I think you have done a pretty good job on that here, just becareful about what you say as "fact" and what you present as your own opinion, based on what you know.

We are still developing new ways to study distant stars and planets, and can certainly create radio signal that would go out in space...but how long would it take to get to another solar system?  That is something you might want to mention.  And water was also discovered recently on the moon...


Paul Wagner  

Answer
Hi Sue:

I thought I did that in my last reply...but let me be more specific.  I think you should mention the water on the moon.  I think you should mention the results of Deep Impact, which collided with a comet and discovered that comets hold many of the basic building blocks of life as well...and that there are uncounted comets just around our solar system.  And the new discoveries of minor planets/objects outside the orbit of Uranus...similar to Pluto.  SO all of those things add to the fact that there are a lot of objects just in our own Solar System that could begin to support what we believe are the first steps towards life.  And then when you consider that there are more galaxies in the Universe than there are stars in tne Milky Way...the odds get pretty strong in favor of life occuring somewhere else beyond Earth.

Paul Wagner